In Brief:

Earth's magnetic field was intense in dinosaur age

(CNN) -- Tyrannosaurus Rex might could have witnessed
particularly colorful northern lights 100 millions years ago. The
Earth possessed a magnetic field three times stronger than
previously estimated, researchers said this week.

The magnetic field protects terrestrial life from dangerous space
radiation. The field acts as a buffer when struck by the solar
wind, a stream of highly charged particles emitted from the sun.

When it interacts with the Earth's magnetic field and upper
atmosphere, the solar wind creates spectacular aurora light
shows, primarily in extreme northern and southern latitudes.

The University of Rochester scientists used a device normally
reserved for computer chip design to study the magnetic "fossil
record" left in ancient rocks.

The researchers, who published a report in the March 2 issue of
the journal Science, will attempt to determine the magnetic field
strength of the planet 2.5 billion years ago.

Meteorite thins complex primordial soup

(CNN) -- An object that landed in France more than a century ago
has revealed new clues about the origin of life on Earth,
scientists said this week.

The Orgueil rock could be the first meteorite traced to a comet
instead of an asteroid, the commonly accepted source of most
space debris on our planet.

Using sophisticated new tools, researchers found that the
meteorite contains a relatively simple mixture of primarily two
amino acids, the basic building blocks of proteins used in living
cells.

Scientists have traditionally held that a wide variety of amino
acids were necessary for life to arise. But the Orgueil research
supports the more recent theory that only a few simple amino
acids were required.

An international team of scientists published the findings in the
February 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.